The disclosure relates to an adjustment device for a a seat or other vehicle component. In particular the disclosure relates to a powered adjuster for use with a backrest of a vehicle seat.
It is known to provide an adjuster for use in a vehicle seat wherein the adjuster includes a first fitting a second fitting, the relative position of the two fittings to one another being able to be changed by means of an eccentric which transmits a torque from a drive to the first fitting, so that the first fitting rolls on the second fitting and the eccentric includes at least one eccentric means or member which may be driven by a driver, the driver being arranged on the drive. Further it is known to provide a vehicle seat including a powered adjustment device as noted above and the adjustment device being used to adjust a vehicle component, such as a backrest of a vehicle seat. Such an adjustment device is known from International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2006/040303 which is of relatively complicated design. A further known device is disclosed in another document from the prior art is, German printed patent specification DE 10 2004 039 538. The adjustment device disclosed in DE 10 2004 039 538 has a free play which, however, is not always desirable and/or not always necessary. An inclination adjustment fitting for the backrest of a motor vehicle seat having a wobble mechanism is known from the German printed patent specification DE 10 2004 011 268 B3. Moreover, an articulated fitting for a vehicle seat is known from the German published patent specification DE 103 05 407 B4. In these known seat back inclination adjusters, however, weaknesses are evident in a powered embodiment of the adjustment device, in particular material weaknesses and/or increases in wear when the inclination adjuster is operated daily.
There has been a long felt need to provide an adjustment device of a more simple construction and which has no free play or only a small amount of free play. There has also been a long felt need to provide an adjustment device for a vehicle component that is highly compact and at the same time highly stable in its design and that such an inclination adjustment fitting firstly may be produced in a manner which is lightweight, cost-effective and stable over its service life. There has also been a long felt need to provide an adjustment device for a vehicle component that may provide a high degree of strength, in particular where there is an electromotive drive as well as unintended situations such as in an accident.